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What’s not to love about cherries? They’re like nature’s candy after all.
There are many perks of having your cherry tree–of course, you get to hand-pick your selection of cherries when they’re ripe. And what about all the fun things you can do with cherries?
You can pack this bite-sized fruit in your kid’s lunchbox as a healthy snack or top your morning cereal with some to give a pop of color.
You can prepare cherry jam, add cherries to fruit salad, make smoothies or just serve fresh on a platter alongside other fruits for a simple dessert.
The list of things to do with cherries is endless but first, you’ve got to know the correct way to pick and preserve cherries. In this post, we’re going to explore how to harvest cherries in 6 necessary steps.
How Long It Takes Cherry Trees To Produce Cherries
It can take a while for young cherry trees to begin to produce fruits and we’re talking 4 to 9 years, but when they finally do, it makes up for all the waiting. You can even cut back on waiting time by purchasing an established tree from a nursery.
The amount of time it takes cherry trees to mature enough to produce fruits depends on a few elements, like the type of cherries, the climate in which they are grown, and pollination.
Types Of Cherries
There are generally two types of cherries: sweet and tart cherries. Sweet cherries are usually eaten raw while the tart ones are the type used in pie filling but both types of cherries have many varieties.
Sour cherries take a shorter time to begin producing, around 4 to 6 years after planting and sweet cherries take longer–5 to 9 years.
Once cherry trees begin to bear fruit, they bloom in the spring and yield cherries in late May, June, or early July.
Climate
In warmer climates, some cherry trees will bear fruit early and will produce a harvest in May but most cherry fruit will not be ready until June. You have learned the factors that influence cherry production, now let’s see how to harvest cherries.
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6 Necessary Steps For Harvesting Cherries
If your cherry tree has begun setting out fruit, you’ll want to know the correct way to harvest them and how to store them to use later.
How to harvest cherries? We are giving you 6 necessary steps to follow:
1. Select The Cherry Tree With The Most Blossoms.
First, cherry trees will have several flowers blooming in mid-spring to indicate that fruit season is near. Generally, there is a 1-month wait between the time when a cherry tree drops its white or pink blossoms and the time it has fruit ready to pick and eat.
Take note of this and select the trees with the most blossoms to harvest from since they would produce first. Once cherries grow, they ripen quickly and need to be picked as soon as possible so be on the lookout.
If your cherry tree doesn’t blossom, you won’t have cherries to pick and it could even be a sign your tree is in trouble.
2. Choose Cherries That Have A Bright, Red Color.
Wait for the cherries to attain bright, red color. The deeper the red color on a cherry, the more ripe and ready to eat it will be.
Don’t pick green or orange cherries because they are not yet ready to eat. Have in mind that various cherry varieties will display different ranges of red when they are ripe, so try to find out which kind you are picking beforehand.
3. Squeeze The Cherries Gently To Check For Firmness.
Color change alone does not indicate that the cherries are ripe enough for harvest. You should also check the texture and firmness before picking.
Ripe cherries will feel firm and not mushy so squeeze each cherry between two figures, making sure that it is firm and the skin doesn’t break.
4. Taste The Cherries To Check For A Ripe Flavor.
You may need to do some tasting to be very sure that you’re harvesting ripe cherries. If the cherry is bitter, then it is not ready for picking.
Ripe sweet cherries will be sweet to taste and ripe tart cherries have a subtle sour taste to them.
5. See If The Stems Stay Attached While Picking.
Another way to check for ripe cherries is to see if the stem remains attached while picking them. Gently pull on the cherry and see what happens.
If it is a sour cherry that is ripe, it will easily separate from the stem. Ripe sweet cherries will keep their stems on when they are picked.
Most cherries will remain attached to their stem when you pick them. Cherries stay fresh for longer if their stem is still attached, so try to leave the stem on as many as you can.
Use a container to put them in as you harvest, preferably a cherry bucket. It has a soft strap and can hold quite a lot of cherries at a time.
6. Store Your Cherries In A Plastic Bag In The Refrigerator.
Store your cherries in the fridge as soon as you can if you don’t want to use them immediately. Use a plastic bag with holes to keep the air circulating.
Before putting them in the fridge, do not wash your cherries until you are ready to use them. This will keep them fresh for a longer time.
Keep the cherries this way at 45°F for 2 to 4 days to keep the flavor in and use them soon. However, if you decide to store cherries for a long time, know that you can store sweet cherries better by freezing them in the refrigerator and sour cherries can be canned instead of freezing.
Must Cherries Be Hand-Picked?
It is safer to harvest ripe cherries by hand instead of risking damage to the tree or fruit by using a machine. Cherries are delicate fruits and most varieties will have to be picked by hand.
This doesn’t have to be stressful, though. You can invite friends or family to help or employ help for a small amount of money.
The best time to pick cherries is in the morning when the weather is still cool and you can store them soon after picking them in the refrigerator.
Conclusion
Cherry trees can live for two decades or more, making sure that you get many years of good harvests if you take care of them properly. You can choose to pick sweet ones, which are better for eating directly, or tart ones, which are better for baking in pies and making jams, depending on what you are planning to do with your cherries.
If you have read up to this point, you should now know how to harvest cherries and store them well. Cherries are generally harvested between June and July.
All kinds of cherries must be hand-picked in the morning and you will know when it is time to harvest them by checking a few things. The cherries turn bright red just before they are fully ripe, when ripe, tart cherries easily detach from the stalk while sweet cherries keep their stalk.
Sweet cherries should be checked for ripeness by tasting them and a cherry bucket should be used to collect cherries. Chill cherries in your fridge after picking them to keep them fresher, and longer.
Have you learned something new? Keep us informed in the comments below.
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